Maria Kyrarini is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and David Packard Jr. Faculty Fellow at Santa Clara University (SCU). She leads the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI2) research group which has been supported by federal (NSF) and SCU internal grants.  Prior to SCU, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bremen under the supervision of Professor Dr.-Eng. Axel Gräser. Before that, she received her M.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and her M.Sc. degree in Automation Systems both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Her primary research interests are in the fields of Robot Learning from Demonstrations, Human-Robot Interaction, and Assistive Robotics with a special focus on enhancing Human Performance. 

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Manizheh Zand is an enthusiastic engineer with an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University. She has co-founded www.mymentortree.org, a non-profit corporation with a vision of building self-esteem and passion for STEM technology within underserved students. In the past, Manizheh has held positions as a Tenure Track Engineering Instructor, Adjunct Faculty, and Embedded Hardware Design Engineer. She was a co-founder of a school for developmentally disabled people and co-founder of a Commercial Construction Corporation. She studied Petroleum Engineering at the Sharif University of Technology. Manizheh is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. 

Krishna Kodur received his Bachelor's in Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, India, and his Master's in Computer Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in reinforcement learning for human-robot collaboration in assistive robotics under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. 

Hambal Tella received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and a research-based master's program in Electrical Engineering with his thesis focused on deep learning algorithms from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in industrial robotics and dynamic task allocation under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini.   

Basile Ouedraogo, SJ. is a Jesuit priest and passionate of technologies. He received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Computer Science from Laval University, Canada. And then joined the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order). He went through the long formation of Jesuits for 13 years. He studied philosophy and theology. Meanwhile, he received a master's degree in Computer Science with his thesis focused on AI in web applications at Loyola College, Chennai, India. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in assistive robotics under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini.

Kajal Awasthi received her M.S. degree in Robotics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Her background includes robotics, perception, and human–robot interaction, with experience in robot learning and multimodal interaction systems. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. Her research interests focus on human–robot interaction, cognitive and social robotics, and adaptive robot behavior for collaborative and assistive systems.

Phuong Cao earned her Bachelor of Science from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota, followed by a Master of Science from the University of Notre Dame. Currently, she is advancing her academic career as a Ph.D. student at Santa Clara University, where she conducts research under the guidance of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. Her scholarly work is centered on the evolving field of human-robot interaction (HRI), with a specific interest in developing intuitive and impactful ways for humans and machines to collaborate.

Luca Chierotti is a 2nd year Electrical and Computer Engineering Masters student with an emphasis in Machine Learning and Signal Integrity. He also completed his undergrad at Santa Clara University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. His recent research includes the classification of the 4 phases of the freestyle stroke in competitive swimming using computer vision and machine learning. His past research included mental fatigue classification from speech using classical ML techniques and deep learning. In his free time, Luca enjoys swimming for the Santa Clara University Swim Club, lifting weights, and hiking.

Nicholas Kenny is a master's student studying machine learning applications in robotics and is passionate about building low-cost open source robots. Initially, Nicholas worked with the PACRR team to build a 3D printed robot quadruped capable of 2D mapping and navigation using LiDAR. More recently, he has worked on testing of visual SLAM systems using RGB-D and stereo depth cameras, especially in multi-robot navigation applications. Currently his research focuses on the development of vision based human intent detection for tele-operated mobile robot systems. Outside of school, Nicholas works as a systems integration engineer at Reliable Robotics and mentors a high school FIRST robotics team.

Ramya Bhaskar is a Master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering with interests in Cognitive Fatigue and AI for robotic applications. Currently, her research involves using reinforcement learning for human-computer interaction. Outside of school, she enjoys classical music, hiking and exploring different places.